DENTAL CARE - Hypnosis: it is also effective in children

To the psychologist or the dentist, hypnosis has proven effective on children. They are often even more receptive than adults!

The techniques used are a little different. Suggestions spend more with gestures, games, music or exchange their favorite movie, by a doctor of the speech. In interpreting a character, the child may, without realizing it, to express its anguish easier and free themselves with the support of the therapist. "The key is to capture their interest. When I do the play therapy, signs of a hypnotic trance appear very quickly. I'll be able to come up with a suggestion and there, it's very effective, "says a psychologist.

How to get rid of dentist fear

"A child comes into hypnosis easily, but emerges as quickly. So when I treat a cavity, for example, if he feels pain, he goes out of his trance immediately and will be difficult to calm. That is why it is necessary at the outset to give some anesthetic, even if the doses are lower than without hypnosis, "says Dr. Jan Rienhoff, dentist and orthodontist in Hanover (Germany). The child, calmer, then leaves treated more easily, which reduces the number and duration of the consultations.

Other interest: provide a role for parents. "During the consultation, I sometimes ask adult present to hold the head of her child and caress gently to let him know that his mother or father is there. It reassures and that hypnosis enhances the action, "said Dr. Rienhoff. Parents can also learn some exercises during the sessions, they can then reuse at home with their child, to calm his fears.

Related Post :

- Why dentist phobia is destroying your health
- The Best Ways to Dominate Dentist Fears

Origin of dentophobia

For about 30% of our patients, the origin of their dental phobia dates back to childhood and is due to traumatic experiences during dental treatments. The pain experienced during treatment are equally often mentioned that the brutal and callous behavior of the dentist. Another third of respondents is the beginning of their phobia in scary stories reported by others, often the parents. No origin phobia can be determined for the third.

The percentage of the latter group should be certainly higher. Dental phobia is indeed often a kind of primitive fear deeply rooted in the subconscious and irrational, such as fear of spiders or mice. This is confirmed by our observations that the number of cases has even increased over the past twenty years that dentistry today is an objective point of view much more "human" than before.

The main reasons mentioned for dentophobie "pure fear of the dentist"

It is not surprising that almost half of patients surveyed consider the fear of pain as the main reason for their dental phobia. This corresponds to conventional stereotypes that associate dental pain dental treatments that are happening today generally painless.

Fear or phobia of injections is also a pattern that is often cited by dentophobiques patients. The injection of local anesthesia today is an integral part of many dental treatments and is accepted by most patients willy nilly because it reduces the pain experienced during treatment. In such cases, the extreme fear often leaves no room for the slightest ratio

Get rid Dentist Fear 

The consequences of dentophobie

People with an irrepressible fear of dentists will avoid traveling in consultation as they can. It is not only the professional dental cleaning done by the assistant dental hygiene which will no longer because all regularly but so will the dental control to prevent diseases of the teeth and gums that will be totally helpless. Poor oral hygiene then provides a breeding ground for bacterial plates that can cause gingivitis and periodontitis and promotes the profusion of caries. Chronic infections of the gum and periodontal as well as acute purulent processes (abscess) are the consequence. That's when the dentophobe patient with toothache is caught in a vicious circle: the more physical and mental suffering becomes unbearable, the more apprehensive to go to the consultation becomes inevitable as and as time pass.

The anxiety of these people is often not taken seriously by relatives or friends, they are often even ridiculed. Unfortunately, many dentists do not always have the understanding that he would. So the dentist phobic patients often have no one to confide in. In addition, cosmetic damage and bad breath are the direct result of the increasing deterioration of the teeth. People affected by this problem are often ashamed and dare not smile, they are afraid to appear in public. Thus they may increasingly become socially isolated.

Anyone who has a fear of dentists...

How to Get Rid of a Toothache
If You’re Terrified of Dentists

Why are we afraid of the dentist and how to fix it?

Fear of the dentist is a fear (a phobia for some) quite common. But why be so anxious about a while certainly unpleasant, but not insurmountable? And how to be more serene moement to be treated teeth?

The problem with fear is that it causes us to avoid dental visits. Therefore, our teeth are rotting, their potential problems are neither identified nor treated and when we finally decided to go get mater snags, care is often more painful and long ... This only reinforces the anxiety we feel about the dental office! A study by Kruger, Thompson and Poulton (1998) on 649 teenagers and found that teens anxious about the dentist would have more caries than others, their anxiety away from the cabinet.

Why are we afraid of the dentist?

So why do we fear so much the dentist? In an article for Brain & Psycho, psychology professor Gudrun Sartory evokes some answers. According to him, the famous stomatophobie often appear after an unpleasant and painful experience at the dentist. This experience may have occurred in childhood and the later fear might not have been taken into account, identified and resolved ... It would therefore remained! Sartory explains the phenomenon as a conditioning process: a single traumatic event exists, and the dentist's office, her blouse, surrounding the smell, the noise of the strawberry are then associated with this traumatic experience. So we packed: when one of the criteria of the situation recurs, we can have a fear response.

And since we carefully avoid sticking the environment we throw them, nothing can change the existing scheme in our heads, no positive experience modifies packaging.

The attitude of parents towards dental care may also have a role in our fears: for Sartory, there would be "learning by imitation" - we witness the behavior and attitudes of our parents, and we internalize them more or less.

Can we treat dental fear?

Stressed aboutt the dentist and especially to my dear mother: yes - Faye is also an example!

Hugh Mc Dougall, both dentist and psychologist, fear could be reduced by leading patients to have a positive experience when they visit. For this, each e-members of a dental office must demonstrate empathy and realize that to some patients, visiting them is a real test.

To transform this event in a time of "normal" care, it is important to listen to patients, reformulating their words so that they understand that their fears are heard and taken into account. When care, the doctor can explain and show the patient what is happening at each step, so that it is not surprised, and give him the possibility to stop the process at any time if it is not comfortable for him, that he may feel in control of what happens - and it does not feel to thank you a bloodthirsty dentist.

Gudrun Sartory also explored several options. According to the researcher, the cognitive behavioral therapy may be particularly effective in some cases. To reduce and eliminate the fear of the dentist, so we began a gradual approach: identifying with the patient what he fears and gradually, it is exposed to these factors - by imagining the situation, watching a video About this, then confronting the real situation until it no longer causes phobic reaction.

Sartory also underlines the effectiveness of other techniques, including regulation strategies of his own fear (eg use muscle relaxation, which will lead to control his own physical reaction or constructive thoughts, which will focus the patient's attention the "it's over soon" rather than "What is this thing sadistic").

Finally, the thing to remember is that the more you avoid the doctor's office, the better your condition may deteriorate and care will be painful when they will take place: by opting for this system, we do not care of our Oral Health (since we let ourselves well rot mouth) or our mental health (since we let our fears pending) ... Even that solutions exist and that we might all be able to go to the dentist, whistling !

Anyone who has a fear of dentists...

How to Get Rid of a Toothache
If You’re Terrified of Dentists